Bunny Cakes and Tea Parties

These days, when I know there will be a holiday party sign up sheet at our pre-school, I find myself rushing to get there early to have first dibs. Because, who would want to bring grapes or baby carrots or juice boxes when you could do something like this:


It's even better that the buddies can help me create the goodies. We happily spent our afternoon today listening to music while baking and decorating bunny cupcakes.


We ran out of time to make dinner so we had an impromptu tea party dinner on the back deck. Both boys told me the tea (a root beer from waaaay back in the fridge) was yucky and requested water and milk.

Eggs

A few eggs were dropped, and then very quickly peeled and eaten, during our dyeing process. So, not quite a dozen for each boy. I bet we'll have even fewer left come Easter morning.

A Firefighter's Diet

After our egg hunt and park play date this morning, the buddies and I stopped off at Subway for a quick lunch. You can't beat a foot long sandwich, on freshly baked whole wheat bread, with extra veggies, for $5, that can feed all three of us! As an added treat, during our meal, 3 Round Rock firefighters stopped in to have lunch. I pointed them out to the buddies as we ate and the firefighters stood in line at the counter. Our conversation went something like this:

Ben: Firefighters! I didn't know firefighters ate lunch!
Me: Of course they eat lunch! They're people, just like us.
Ace: Yeah, Benny. They usually eat lunch at a meet.
Me: A what?
Ace: You know. At a meet. When they get together to learn about safety or talk about the rules or watch a video.
Me: Oh, a meeting. Yes, sometimes they eat together at the station at a meeting. But, I bet these firefighters were out on a call because their truck is in the parking lot.
Ben: Do you think they ordered extra vegetables for energy?
Me: I bet they did. Definitely. Firefighters eat lots of growing foods.
Ace: Do they eat candy?
Me: Well, sure. I bet they do sometimes. But, mostly they probably eat growing foods.

And on and on...

Then, as we were leaving:

Ace: Look Mom! That firefighter is getting water!
Me: He sure is. Water is good for us.
The firefighter laughed and waved at us.
Ace: Do you eat candy?
Firefighter: What?
Me: He wants to know if firefighters eat candy.
Firefighter: (laughing) I eat candy sometimes. But, when I do, it's just a little. And, I always brush my teeth afterward.

And then we left. Because it just couldn't get any better than a firefighter telling my boys to eat just a little candy and brush their teeth.

Easter Egg Hunt #2

We met our playgroup friends this morning for our 3rd annual Easter egg hunt. Some of our hunts in the past have been free-for-alls, with the moms evening out the baskets once the kids had lost interest. Not so this time. Most of the kiddos carefully counted out 12 eggs for their basket and then stopped collecting. No crying, no whining, just shear joy in the completion of the task! It makes me sad that this is our last hunt with this group.

Happy Easter Week!

Visit with the Easter Bunny - check!
Annual Bunny Breakfast with balloon animals, face-painting, egg hunting, and crafting - check!

Now we are ready for a week filled with egg hunts, pre-school parties, egg dyeing, and bluebonnets.

Rodeo

After a fun birthday party this morning, the buddies and I decided to hit the Austin Rodeo, on its last weekday of the season. Today was "Farmer Day", which meant if you dressed in overalls, your entrance fee to the fairgrounds was waived. You can bet your boots that we wore our overalls! I even donned my GAP overalls, circa 1994, after I discovered they way in the back of my closet.



Our adventure at the fair began with pony rides. But, Ben wouldn't ride because he had a tummy-ache after eating too many Skittles at the birthday party. Ace chose the biggest pony of all and trotted around happily. After that, we watched a Western shoot-out between two outlaws and a sheriff. Good prevailed and we they even slipped in a little lesson that even a blank can shred an aluminum can. Ben perked up after the show, once there was talk of ice cream. And then, we were off to see a real milking show. The boys said the show had "too much talking" but they liked the milking demonstration. At the end of the presentation, Ben said he had a question (we're really into questions these days) and asked the dairy farmer, "What is strawberry milk?"



Then, we discovered the real highlight: the Turbo Jump. For 7 bucks each, the buddies got 2 minutes of flight time. A bit expensive, yes, but totally worth it to see their smiles. After that, we took a quick trip through the petting zoo and then a buzz down Livestock Lane to see the farm animals.








All in all, it was a great outing. Next year, we'll be back for the carnival rides.

Arrowhead Ranch

This morning, we visited Arrowhead Ranch with our playgroup friends. The owners call the ranch "a li'l bit of country, right in the neighborhood". What that means is, this working ranch, which has been owned by the same family since the 1940's, has slowly been surrounded on all sides by suburban neighborhoods.

For just $5 per kid, the buddies rode their first full-size horse (albeit a slow one with arthritis), fed goats, pet bunnies and a donkey, and got a balloon at the end. What a bargain! Of course, all of that took about 20 minutes and then there wasn't much else to do.

But, the owners couldn't have been nicer to our rowdy bunch. We'll visit again, when we're in the neighborhood!

Barton Creek Greenbelt

One of our favorite working-mom friends took the day off yesterday and invited us out on an adventure. We hiked Barton Creek Greenbelt on a lovely Spring day. The last time we visited, the creek bed was dry but yesterday the water gushed. We marveled at the waterfalls and the buddies and their friends enjoyed throwing rocks and sticks into the creek. The water was still a bit cold for wading so we climbed trees and rocks and even explored a cave.

Ben, climbing.

Ace, posing.

The mama's (thanks to Ace for snapping the photo).

Saint Patrick's Day Play Day

Gone are the days where we celebrate Saint Patrick's Day at crowded block parties or Irish pubs. However, now I always have at least two handsome guys by my side.


Plus, lots of their little friends.


These days, instead of parades and pub-crawling, we celebrate with scavenger hunts and games of pin the shamrock on the leprechaun.


Yet, some things haven't changed all that much. If you look closely, you might find this:

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

Sea World Take 2

Woo hoo! We took another road trip to Sea World today to use our season passes that the great-grands gifted us for Christmas. We met up with some long-time friends (who live right around the corner) that we don't see often enough. During today's outing, we saw the Shamu show, the new Azul dolphin show, and rode the Shamu Express eleventy-billion times. We also rode Journey to Atlantis and the Texas Splashdown. The buddies are all about the rides at Sea World.

We weren't able to squeeze in time to feed the dolphins or sea lions so the buddies reminded me that we'll have to return again soon.

Lake Boys

As we walked into pre-school this morning, I commented on what a beautiful day it was. And so Ace said, "I know! We should go to the beach after school!" Indeed we should! I posted a message to just about every person I know in the Austin area, since a beach trip is always more fun with friends. We didn't get a single taker, so I called up my cousin, a fellow "Adventure Mom", who jumped at the chance to join us.

We quickly raced home, changed into our swim suits, grabbed our sand toys from their hook in the garage, packed a cooler and headed on our way. When we arrived, we did a little dance for joy. We love spring-time!


And then we busied ourselves with our sand toys.


And jumped off the pier about a dozen times each, into the chilly water.


And built roads and castles and swimming pools and houses with the cousins.

We wish every day could be like today!

Dinosaur Valley State Park

You just can't beat a quick day trip to see family members and dinosaur tracks! Today, we met the grandparents and cousin-Micheal at Dinosaur Valley State Park to celebrate Micheal's 11th birthday.








We explored the trails and marveled at the prehistoric tracks along the beds of the Paluxy River. And tried hard to keep three wild boys from falling off a cliff as they explored. Add a picnic lunch, some playground time, cupcakes, and races with their cousin and it was a near perfect day for the buddies.

Wacky Wednesday (on Thursday)

The buddies came home from pre-school on Tuesday excited to tell me that Thursday would be "Wacky Wednesday". And that Ms. K said they should dress wacky. Then, she told them that they could color their hair a wacky color...but only if their parents said it was okay. Well, that was okay with me so we headed off to the party supply store right away.

Ben chose orange.

Ace chose blue. But then was disappointed this morning when Ben's orange was much, much more vibrant than his blue. So, Steve gave him an orange stripe.


I really hadn't thought very far ahead to the clothes, but sent all three boys (Steve included) off to get dressed this morning and this is what they came up with. They were easily the wackiest two at school. And, definitely the wackiest kids at the park where we had our picnic lunch. And, absolutely the wackiest at our gym this afternoon.

Green Eggs and Ham

Say!
I like green eggs and ham!
I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat.
And I would eat them with a goat...

And I will eat them in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
They are good, so good, you see!

So I will eat them in a box.
And I will eat them with a fox.
And I will eat them in a house.
And I will eat them with a mouse.
And I will eat them here and there.
Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!

I do so like
green eggs and ham!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-am!

-- Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! Thank you for the many books
that grace our shelves and make us laugh.

Early Voting

With Ben out sick (just a little) from school last week, I had the rare opportunity to take just one boy where I normally wouldn't dare to take two. We voted! In the car ride over, I explained that I was going to vote. Because our country is a democracy and all people get to help decide how it is run and what the rules and laws are. And that we do that by voting for officials that will decide on the rules and laws. He asked, "But, why don't I get to vote?" And so I explained that one day he would, when he is 18.

We entered the voting trailer and the poll workers greeted us (but mainly Ben) excitedly. A nice lady asked for his ID and asked if he was old enough to vote. His response? "I'm only 4 1/2 years old. You have to be 18 to vote!" They liked that.

I selected my choices at the one kiosk with a chair, so that Ben could sit and watch. I pointed out our good friend Karin Crump's name and he thought that was cool. And at the end, he pushed the red button that submitted my vote. And then wore his "I Voted" sticker proudly for the rest of the day.